Arestin use and the transitory state of my gums

Arestin and my mouth: I've had root planing before, but this particular cleaning checkup I let my maintenance habits go down, by drinking sugary sodas for 3 weeks prior and little flossing. By the time I went in for dental cleaning, my gums were bleeding and the hygenist(who has done my SRP before and never recommended Arestin before) wanted to administer 7 packets of Arestin in nearly all my back molars area at $65 a pop--$455. Having done all the reading on Arestin before and not being impressed by what I read, especially in relation to cost and results that approach insignificant statistical results, I put her off for 2 weeks as I truthfully told her that I needed to quit my sugar soda energy drink kick that I had been on. I have some 5mm and 6mm pockets with bleeding. But I figure if I quit the sugary soda, floss for a while the bleeding will be gone and when I go back to the hygenist and go back in 2 weeks, then the FDA protocol for administering Arestin (5mm pockets and bleeding) will be significantly abated since my gum state had peaked in ill-health due to my habits which are transitory but the infection abates by my proper diet and care. When I see the hygenist again in 2 weeks, I will ask her to reevaluate and perhaps only use half or less of the Arestin packets. Question: What are your thoughts? and Are there options for a oral pill antibiotic prescription as an alternative to this OraPharm Arestin Goldmine at my expense!

[Jerome Tsang, DDS]

You may ask the dentist for a prescription of antibiotics to take orally instead of the Arrestin as an option but I'm not sure if its more affordable or not.  The oral antibiotic is called Periostat but may not be covered by regular medical insurance as its indicated for dental use as far as I know.  

Otherwise, you may opt to do either the Arrestin in the worse problem spots.  You may want to ask why the hygienist recommends it but I would assume its due to a non-responsive pocket from the SRP.  In other words, the SRP didn't do the job and there's still an active infected area that the localized antibiotics would help out on.